Soundtrack of the year
Just wanted to write in to sing the praises of Transistor. I bought it over the weekend and have loved playing through the game, twice now (easy Platinum if that’s your thing). You were spot on about the combat. Whilst enjoyable I found on my second playthrough I was spamming the same moves.

Amazingly sumptuous visuals, The Transistor chatting away to me via the flashing PlayStation 4 pad (never understood the fuss about the light). I love the little touches on everything, the midway comfort break, beach hammock, number of times bouncing the ball, but the real stand out is the music. The whole soundtrack is on YouTube, by the makers Supergiant Games.

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I downloaded the Bastion demo from Steam and reconfirmed why I don’t get on with PC gaming, Laptop runs the game fine but using a keyboard isn’t for me. Hopefully it will make the jump to PlayStation 4 now too.

On a side note I’d say we’re definitely ready for the next gen. After my second playthrough I got to grips with the Share button and then did a 15 minute video on Share Factory. Yeah, there’s a fair bit of faffing about but I’ve got the hang of it and it rendered a great mini movie in about the same time It would have taken my PlayStation3 to sync trophies!AWB-78 (PSN ID)
PS: Long term reader (Teletext) and slightly nervous about joining in! Keep up the good work all GC and readers alike. You’re a welcome part of my daily routine.

Secret karting
Hi GameCentral, have been reading since the old school days of Teletext but never written before so go easy. One of the main reasons for writing is the hope that people will add me for some Mario Kart 8 action. On this subject though I have to question Nintendo’s efforts, they have one of the biggest and best games of the new generation yet I haven’t seen or heard a single advert for the game and if it wasn’t for GC I probably wouldn’t even know about the free game offer.

Who can argue with Mario Kart 8 and Zelda: The Wind Waker for 40 quid, yet even in retailers there isn’t a great deal of prominence. Especially in comparison to Watch Dogs, which is a new IP. This begs the question, why? Is this due to the fact that Nintendo don’t care about Europe? Or is it because they think it will sell simply on word of mouth? Or that they no longer wish to sink investment into advertising the lame duck that is the Wii U and its associated games.Closebutfar (PSN ID/NN ID)

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GC: We worried this would be the case, but apparently they aren’t really starting their advertising campaign until on or near the game’s release. Let’s see if things change over the next few days…

Sure bet
I only very rarely pre-order, and the only occasion I can think of in the last few years is my order for Mario Kart 8. I ordered that game a long time ago, because I managed to order it for a good discounted price and I was certain it would be at least ‘very good’. After all, if Nintendo can’t make a good Mario Kart game, then what hope is there for any developer or any franchise?

Fortunately, based on reviews, it looks like it will be game of the year!KhalsaBlade (gamertag/NN ID)/Akali (PSN ID)/Blade (Steam ID)
PS: My most played console for the last few months has been the Wii U, with PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Xbox360 being rarely used.
PPS: Given the typical demographic of GC readers (i.e., they appreciate originality and quality gameplay over hype) I am surprised that every single GC reader does not own a Wii U.

Deadly Premonition X Crysis
I just wanted to thank GC for recommending Deadly Premonition. It is certainly not a game I would have tried on my own and it was only your unrelenting praise that got my past the horrible controls. I am really glad I played it as it has the best story I have experienced in gaming and thoroughly riveting by the end.

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The game designer is exceptionally talented even if the programmers were not. Have they produced anything else of note? Crytek should employ the designer as they are an excellent technical company in need of a good game designer. Whereas Deadly Premonition’s designer was desperately in need of a more technically gifted studio to realise the vision.PazJohnMitch
PS: I was not expecting the Blanka cameo near the end.

GC: We’ve often thought there should be more collaborations between developers with opposing specialities, but it never seems to happen. Deadly Premonition director Hidetaka ‘SWERY’ Suehiro has had a relatively unremarkable career until now, but his new game D4 looks to be suitably bizarre. It’s mentioned in our E3 predictions feature for the Xbox One.

As advertised
I find all these negative letters accusing games companies of over hyping there games a little unfair. Using Titanfall and Watch Dogs as examples, these were two games that got a lot of press coverage, mainly because there hasn’t been much else for gaming sites to talk about. Now if we go back and watch the reveals for these games I personally feel their previews were very close to how the game actually played.

Everything that happened in the Titanfall video you can perform easily in game. It gave an accurate depiction of how the game would play and that gameplay looked awesome (I accept you may disagree if you don’t like competitive first person shooters). Having played the game it does exactly what I expected from the reveal, yet we have people complaining there’s no single-player or the maps are full of bots. These are things the developer never spoke about at the time so people are getting miffed that the idea they made up in their head is not the game they’re playing.

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Watch Dogs also seems to be suffering from a backlash, mainly to do with the graphics, but after six or so hours with the game I feel like every component that was demonstrated in the reveal is present in the game, and if you play mostly at night (and ignore car models) the game looks pretty damn close to the E3 reveal.

If you compare these games with the reveal for MotorStorm and Killzone 2 at the PlayStation 3 reveal I think companies are doing much better at showing us representative gameplay at press events.

I personally feel like hype is something we create ourselves in anticipation for something we might like. If you’re feeling let down by such excellent games as Titanfall and Watch Dogs maybe it’s your expectations at fault and not the game, developers, or publishers.DarKerR (gamertag)/DarKerR-UK (PSN ID)
PS: Had an interesting conversation with a friend who used to work at Bizarre Creations. He was saying that the sticking point for better graphics now has nothing to do with the power of the machine and everything to do with how much money publishers could spend on a title. I think that’s something we need to be aware of when we complain games don’t look next gen. Are you willing to pay more for better graphics?

Easy money
Just thought I’d write in to say how much fun I had yesterday hacking people’s account at ATMs on Watch Dogs, whilst I was doing loads of side missions. I stopped playing after I took over half a million dollars from people. All before I did the first main mission. Good times.woz 007 (gamertag)/woz_007 (NN ID) Add me for Mario Kart 8 madness!
PS: I’m getting the special edition with the Bullet Bill T-shirt. Living the dream.

Morning post
I got my blue shell edition at 9:59 this morning, I’m a little disappointed with the quality of the collectible but I’m off until Monday evening so I’ve got a nice long weekend to enjoy the game. I’m not sure about going for the online multiplayer but I do like the idea of racing against other GC readers and contributors.

A side note; I’ve been playing The Wonderful 101 and it’s a lot better than I thought it was going to be, I remember GC having issues with it and it hasn’t exactly set the Inbox on fire but I’d have no qualms about recommending it to a friend. And I’ve got Pikmin 3 and Zelda: The Wind Walker HD in my backlog.

I’m really feeling the love for my Wii U and Nintendo at the moment, but how long it will last is anyone’s guess. Enough jibber jabber.Mitchell

Plus or minus?
I see Sony seem to be changing PlayStation Plus and are phasing out the yearly games (currently Uncharted 3, LittleBigPlanet Karting, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown) in favour of having two titles per month on each of their consoles. Which means that this month we get Trine 2: The Complete Story and Pixeljunk Shooter Ultimate on PlayStation 4; NBA 2K14 and Lone Survivor on PlayStation 3; and Dragon’s Crown and Surge Deluxe on the PS Vita. Which is a nice little haul of titles.

I believe eventually we’ll get one retail game, and one indie title each month on the PlayStation 4, which I think is a good balance. I love the indie titles each month, as there is a lot more creativity in these titles than many a retail game, and it’s nice to play something fresh for a change.

Gamers have been moaning that they only get indie titles free on the PlayStation 4 P, so are they expecting, say, Ubisoft to give away Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for free when the console’s only been on the market for a few months?! I think in the next couple of months you’ll see some retail titles starting to appear on the service, I’d put money on either Knack or Killzone: Shadow Fall being one of the first to become available.

From a quick look on the PlayStation Blog, there are folk already complaining about the yearly titles getting scrapped, but I would actually prefer to get two PlayStation 4 titles each month, especially if one of them ends up being a retail title.Cubes (PSN ID), Cubes73 (NN ID/Steam ID/Raptr ID)/Kevin M

Inbox also-ransRE: Hyrule Warriors. Will this game be on Wii U, Wii or Xbox 360?!atalantasb

GC: You’re asking if a Zelda game is going to be on Xbox 360?

That artwork for BattleCry is clearly David Beckham right? Don’t think they’ve even tried to hide it!Razzledazzle

Please, no more use of the word ‘piqued’. That is all. Thank you for your cooperation.melkorthevalor (PSN ID)

After having used the Xbox One pad for a good few months, how do you feel it compares to the Xbox 360 controller?Mr Sony

GC: We do miss the weight of the Xbox 360 controller a bit, but otherwise it’s a fine evolution of the original.

Toot TootBuckfastMonk (PSN ID/NN ID)

This week’s Hot Topic
The talking point for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Bolo31, who asks what kind of video game you’d make if you had the money and expertise?

Your idea can’t be a sequel or be based on a licence, although being inspired by existing games or concepts is fine. Also, try not to go too big budget and crazy – no ‘everything simulators’ – just describe a game idea that you’d like to see made and which you think could be created with a reasonably sized budget.

Have you actually ever tried to make a game, or at least design one in your head? How aware are you of how the process works and how involved have you got with creating in-game user content or fan mods? Has playing games given you the urge to create them or would you rather just play them and not be bothered with creating them yourself?